BleachBit 1.6 not deleting Windows 7 Recycle Bin Files

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Using BleachBit 1.6 on Windows 7 (32-bit). Recycle bin under System is checked. Using the installed version, not the portable version.

Preview shows:
Clipboard ?B
Delete 1.1MB C:\WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log
Delete 0 C:\WINDOWS\Debug\PASSWD.LOG
Delete 85.5kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\BLEACHBIT.EXE-93D97AE2.pf
Delete 7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\CMD.EXE-4A81B364.pf
Delete 13kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\CONHOST.EXE-1F3E9D7E.pf
Delete 47.9kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\CONSENT.EXE-531BD9EA.pf
Delete 14.9kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\DLLHOST.EXE-A853C612.pf
Delete 26.3kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\DLLHOST.EXE-DACE9A9B.pf
Delete 33.6kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\GREENLIST.EXE-D4D8930F.pf
Delete 15.8kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\IGFXSRVC.EXE-96A493A4.pf
Delete 9.1kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\NET.EXE-DF44F913.pf
Delete 9.3kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\NET1.EXE-849DA590.pf
Delete 14.7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\SEARCHFILTERHOST.EXE-77482212.pf
Delete 10.5kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\SEARCHPROTOCOLHOST.EXE-0CB8CADE.pf
Delete 41.7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\TRUSTEDINSTALLER.EXE-3CC531E5.pf
Delete 33.7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\WHITELIST.EXE-E79038D7.pf
Delete 26.3kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\WMIPRVSE.EXE-1628051C.pf
Recycle bin C:\ ?B
Recycle bin Q:\ ?B
net stop wuauserv ?B
Delete 0 C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download
net start wuauserv ?B

Disk space to be recovered: 1.5MB
Files to be deleted: 18
Special operations: 5

Cleaning results shows:
Clipboard 0
Mark for deletion 1.1MB C:\WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log
Mark for deletion 0 C:\WINDOWS\Debug\PASSWD.LOG
Delete 85.5kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\BLEACHBIT.EXE-93D97AE2.pf
Delete 7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\CMD.EXE-4A81B364.pf
Delete 13kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\CONHOST.EXE-1F3E9D7E.pf
Delete 47.9kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\CONSENT.EXE-531BD9EA.pf
Delete 14.9kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\DLLHOST.EXE-A853C612.pf
Delete 25.6kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\DLLHOST.EXE-DACE9A9B.pf
Delete 33.6kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\GREENLIST.EXE-D4D8930F.pf
Delete 15.8kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\IGFXSRVC.EXE-96A493A4.pf
Delete 9.1kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\NET.EXE-DF44F913.pf
Delete 9.3kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\NET1.EXE-849DA590.pf
Delete 14.7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\SEARCHFILTERHOST.EXE-77482212.pf
Delete 10.5kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\SEARCHPROTOCOLHOST.EXE-0CB8CADE.pf
Delete 41.7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\TRUSTEDINSTALLER.EXE-3CC531E5.pf
Delete 33.7kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\WHITELIST.EXE-E79038D7.pf
Delete 26.3kB C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\WMIPRVSE.EXE-1628051C.pf
Recycle bin C:\ 0
Recycle bin Q:\ 0
net stop wuauserv 0
Delete 0 C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download
net start wuauserv 0

Disk space recovered: 1.5MB
Files deleted: 18
Special operations: 5

Do files remain in the recycle bin for C drive, Q drive, some other drives, or what combination?

---
Andrew, lead developer

ROCKNROLLKID's picture

I just tested this on my Windows 7 64bit, and it's not cleaning the recycling bin for me either. Still running 1.7 alpha. I do not have any other drive on my SSD, other then C:

____________________
Also known as Alex.

Moderator for BleachBit and a maintainer for Winapp2.

Check out my open-source group on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/opencommunity

Windows 10 x64 (switching to ReactOS in the future).

Drive Q: is a recovery partition and there are no files in the recycle bin for that drive. The recycle bin does have files from the C: drive, and they remain after running BleachBit.

Are you running with Administrator privileges? A reliable way to check is to click Help - System Information and look at the value of win32com.shell.shell.IsUserAnAdmin() where True means you do have administrator privileges.

If you see False, make sure you accept the UAC (User Access Control) dialog when starting BleachBit.

I just tested it on Windows 7, and Administrator privileges are important for cleaning even your own files.

Let me know if it fails to clean the recycle bin with administrator privileges (as defined above).

---
Andrew, lead developer

Thanks, Andrew.

I am running as administrator (accepted the User Access Control).

System Information follows:

BleachBit version 1.6
GTK version 2.16.6
local_cleaners_dir = C:\Program Files\cleaners
locale_dir = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\share\locale\
options_dir = C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\BleachBit
personal_cleaners_dir = C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\BleachBit\cleaners
system_cleaners_dir = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\share\cleaners\
locale.getdefaultlocale = ('en_US', 'cp1252')
os.getenv('APPDATA') = C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming
os.getenv('localappdata') = C:\Users\User\AppData\Local
os.getenv('USERPROFILE') = C:\Users\User
os.getenv('ProgramFiles') = C:\Program Files
os.getenv('ProgramW6432') = None
os.getenv('TMP') = C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp
os.path.expanduser('~') = C:\Users\User
platform.win32_ver[1]() = 6.1.7601
platform.platform = Windows-Vista-6.1.7601-SP1
sys.argv = ['C:\\Program Files\\BleachBit\\bleachbit.exe', '--gui', '--no-uac']
sys.executable = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\bleachbit.exe
sys.version = 2.5.4 (r254:67916, Dec 23 2008, 15:10:54) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)]
win32com.shell.shell.IsUserAnAdmin() = True
__file__ = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\library.zip\bleachbit\Diagnostic.pyo

ROCKNROLLKID's picture

Mine is set to true, as well, and I am clicking Yes on the UAC. Still the same results.

____________________
Also known as Alex.

Moderator for BleachBit and a maintainer for Winapp2.

Check out my open-source group on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/opencommunity

Windows 10 x64 (switching to ReactOS in the future).

Thank you both for your reports. I filed this as bug 1425373 and hope to fix it relatively soon.

On that page you are able to subscribe to the bug ticket to get notified of updates.

---
Andrew, lead developer

If you can please test, see 1425373 for a link to download of BleachBit version 1.7.3 and test cleaning the recycle bin with and without administrative rights.

---
Andrew, lead developer

ROCKNROLLKID's picture

Here are my test results:

Unchecked "Run this program as a Administrator" and clicked no to the UAC prompt. BleachBit failed to clean the recycling bin.

Unchecked "Run this program as a Administrator" and clicked on yes to the UAC prompt. BleachBit failed to clean the recycling bin.

Checked "Run this program as a Administrator" and clicked on yes to the UAC prompt. BleachBit failed to clean the recycling bin.

Conclusion: BleachBit issue with the recycling bin is still present. Confirmed that I am running proper version, 1.7.3, on this test. This is all tested on C: drive. I have no other drives on here.

____________________
Also known as Alex.

Moderator for BleachBit and a maintainer for Winapp2.

Check out my open-source group on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/opencommunity

Windows 10 x64 (switching to ReactOS in the future).

ROCKNROLLKID: Thank you for testing. Did it list an files located in the recycler while in preview or clean modes? Were there any error messages?

---
Andrew, lead developer

ROCKNROLLKID's picture

Ops. My bad. Recycling Bin is being cleaned. My recycling bin was bugged and was still showing files in it after BleachBit cleaned it, however, it was empty. BleachBit is cleaning the recycling bin now.

____________________
Also known as Alex.

Moderator for BleachBit and a maintainer for Winapp2.

Check out my open-source group on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/opencommunity

Windows 10 x64 (switching to ReactOS in the future).

Whew!

---
Andrew, lead developer

Andrew,

My experience is just the opposite of what should be happening. When I have administrative rights (enter my administrative password when prompted), BleachBit will NOT delete files from the Recycle Bin. When I do not enter my administrative password when prompted, BleachBit DOES delete files from the Recycle Bin. I think what the othre tester and I are seeing is that the Recycle Bin is not refreshed after BleachBit completes it's processing therefore shows that it is not empty. Upon opening Recycle Bin, it shows as empty.

bsodx2's picture

In 8 I had the same results as Rocknrollkid.
I tried it out In 10 tech preview it is not cleaned under normal or running as admin. I think they've changed the way UAC works. No longer get the Yes/No UAC dialog with launching.

Thank you for pointing it out.

I think the problem was BleachBit 1.7.3 did not properly delete folders that were in the recycling bin (only individual files at the root level of the recycling bin). BleachBit 1.7.4 fixes this, and yes, it seems older versions of Windows handled it differently.

Please test again using 1.7.4.

---
Andrew, lead developer

ROCKNROLLKID's picture

Everything working well in 1.7.4. Still the issue with the recycling bin showing files in the bin, but there isn't anything in it, but this is more likely an issue with Windows and there last update.

____________________
Also known as Alex.

Moderator for BleachBit and a maintainer for Winapp2.

Check out my open-source group on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/opencommunity

Windows 10 x64 (switching to ReactOS in the future).

bsodx2's picture

1.7.4 Cleans recycle bin with both clicking no and yes with the UAC prompt. Same bug where the Recycle bin icon shows as full unless it's opened or the system is rebooted.

edit: it's working in 10 tech preview, but has the recycle bin not showing as empty bug

1.7.4 IS DELETING files from recycle bin when I choose NOT TO ALLOW administrator access via the UAC.
1.7.4 IS NOT DELETING files from recycle bin when I choose TO ALLOW administrato access via the UAC.
This seems like exactly the opposite of what should be happening.
1.7.4 is not updating the recycle bin status after deleting files, so the desktop icon isn't updated.
I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit with Service Pack 1
Thanks, Andrew.

ROCKNROLLKID's picture

That's weird. On my Windows 7 64-bit, it is deleting recycling bin whether Administrator rights is allowed or not. Are you sure you are not talking about the issue where the recycling bin will show files left over via the desktop icon, even though it was deleted?

____________________
Also known as Alex.

Moderator for BleachBit and a maintainer for Winapp2.

Check out my open-source group on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/opencommunity

Windows 10 x64 (switching to ReactOS in the future).

Jallen: There are different symptoms of "not deleting," so I want to be clear. When you write "1.7.4 is not deleting," do you mean that zero files from the recycler are shown in the BleachBit log in preview and clean modes? When you open the recycle bin "folder" from the Windows desktop, are any files there? Do does "is not deleting" refer only to the recycle bin icon on the desktop?

I fixed an issue for 1.7.5 to update the recycle bin icon (the last symptom), and soon I will publish it.

---
Andrew, lead developer

I just noticed that BleachBit is identifying my computer as running Vista and not Windows 7. I wonder if this could be causing the problem?
-----
BleachBit version 1.7.4
GTK version 2.16.6
local_cleaners_dir = C:\Program Files\cleaners
locale_dir = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\share\locale\
options_dir = C:\Users\Jay\AppData\Roaming\BleachBit
personal_cleaners_dir = C:\Users\Jay\AppData\Roaming\BleachBit\cleaners
system_cleaners_dir = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\share\cleaners\
locale.getdefaultlocale = ('en_US', 'cp1252')
os.getenv('APPDATA') = C:\Users\Jay\AppData\Roaming
os.getenv('localappdata') = C:\Users\Jay\AppData\Local
os.getenv('USERPROFILE') = C:\Users\Jay
os.getenv('ProgramFiles') = C:\Program Files
os.getenv('ProgramW6432') = None
os.getenv('TMP') = C:\Users\Jay\AppData\Local\Temp
os.path.expanduser('~') = C:\Users\Jay
platform.win32_ver[1]() = 6.1.7601
platform.platform = Windows-Vista-6.1.7601-SP1
sys.argv = ['C:\\Program Files\\BleachBit\\bleachbit.exe']
sys.executable = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\bleachbit.exe
sys.version = 2.5.4 (r254:67916, Dec 23 2008, 15:10:54) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)]
win32com.shell.shell.IsUserAnAdmin() = False
__file__ = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\library.zip\bleachbit\Diagnostic.pyo

Andrew,

I'm sorry for not giving complete information. These test were run with files present in the Recycle Bin:

UAC Accepted:
Preview shows:
Disk space to be recovered: 0
Files to be deleted: 0
Cleaning results:
Disk space recovered: 0
Files deleted: 0

UAC Not Accepted:
Preview Shows:
Delete 1.6MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0859.jpg
Delete 1.3MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0860.jpg
Delete 2MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0861.jpg
Delete 1.8MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0862.jpg
Delete 1.6MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0863.JPG
Delete 1.2MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0865.jpg
Delete 2.1MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0866.JPG
Delete 1.2MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0867.jpg
Delete 120.5kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2604.JPG
Delete 111.2kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2609.jpg
Delete 120.5kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2610.JPG
Delete 107.4kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2611.JPG
Delete 0 C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0

Disk space to be recovered: 13.2MB
Files to be deleted: 13
Cleaning Results:
Delete 1.6MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0859.jpg
Delete 1.3MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0860.jpg
Delete 2MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0861.jpg
Delete 1.8MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0862.jpg
Delete 1.6MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0863.JPG
Delete 1.2MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0865.jpg
Delete 2.1MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0866.JPG
Delete 1.2MB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_0867.jpg
Delete 120.5kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2604.JPG
Delete 111.2kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2609.jpg
Delete 120.5kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2610.JPG
Delete 107.4kB C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0\IMG_2611.JPG
Delete 0 C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-360720132-2107741008-789578772-1001\$RLIL6J0

Disk space recovered: 13.2MB
Files deleted: 13

Files are being deleted when I do not accept the UAC. I hope this is helpful.

ROCKNROLLKID's picture

Same issue on my with BleachBit registering as vista and not 7, but mine is still cleaning recycling bin whether you accept UAC or not.

BleachBit version 1.7.4
GTK version 2.16.6
local_cleaners_dir = C:\Program Files\cleaners
locale_dir = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\share\locale\
options_dir = C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\BleachBit
personal_cleaners_dir = C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\BleachBit\cleaners
system_cleaners_dir = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\share\cleaners\
locale.getdefaultlocale = ('en_US', 'cp1252')
os.getenv('APPDATA') = C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming
os.getenv('localappdata') = C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Local
os.getenv('USERPROFILE') = C:\Users\Alex
os.getenv('ProgramFiles') = C:\Program Files (x86)
os.getenv('ProgramW6432') = C:\Program Files
os.getenv('TMP') = C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Local\Temp
os.path.expanduser('~') = C:\Users\Alex
platform.win32_ver[1]() = 6.1.7601
platform.platform = Windows-Vista-6.1.7601-SP1
sys.argv = ['C:\\Program Files\\BleachBit\\bleachbit.exe']
sys.executable = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\bleachbit.exe
sys.version = 2.5.4 (r254:67916, Dec 23 2008, 15:10:54) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)]
win32com.shell.shell.IsUserAnAdmin() = True
__file__ = C:\Program Files\BleachBit\library.zip\bleachbit\Diagnostic.pyo

____________________
Also known as Alex.

Moderator for BleachBit and a maintainer for Winapp2.

Check out my open-source group on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/opencommunity

Windows 10 x64 (switching to ReactOS in the future).

The short answer is the "Vista" in platform.platform is not really important, and the internal Windows version 6.1 is actually what everyone calls Windows 7 (see, for example, Wikipedia: Windows NT: Releases).

---
Andrew, lead developer

jallen: Yes, that is strange.

Is this a multi-user Windows system where the files could have been deleted under another user account? Or were the files deleted in any other special sort of way?

I saw you posted your system information. Other than the line " win32com.shell.shell.IsUserAnAdmin() = False" do you see any differences between running in administrator mode (accepting the User Access Control dialog) or not?

---
Andrew, lead developer

Andrew;

There are two users on this computer (I do not use the administrator account.) The files in the recycle bin were deleted by a Standard User, the same user that BleachBit was run under. I deleted files specifically for the purpose of testing BleachBit. No other files were present in the Recycle Bin at the time of the test. I am emailing three files to you with a comparison between the System Information reported with and without accepting the UAC.

Hi Jay,

Thank you for the detailed information and for this interesting test. I reproduced here on Windows 7 and compared BleachBit 1.7.4 and BleachBit 1.6.

On my system when running as a standard user, I have to switch users to an administrator user to accept the UAC with a standard user.

I consider cleaning the recycle bins of both users (standard and the elevated account) an enhancement instead of a bug for these reasons
1. BleachBit 1.7.4 cleans as much as BleachBit 1.6, though 1.7.4 allows the benefits of cleaning individual files (to enable shredding) which 1.6 did not.
2. Though not ideal, there is a workaround: to deny the UAC when starting BleachBit.
3. I would like to soon release the next stable release to share the progress already made.
4. Other people have asked generally for the ability to clean the contexts of multiple users (for example, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.) and not just the recycling bin.

(BleachBit 1.7.5 also fixes the issue of the recycling bin icon showing files in the recycling bin.)

Feel free to file an enhancement request here https://bugs.launchpad.net/bleachbit/ for cleaning both recycling bins.

---
Andrew, lead developer